WIP bloghop.

I’ve been nominated by Kay Kaufman to be in the WIP Blog Hop. The rules are to answer some questions and nominate others. You can find her always terrific blog here: Kay

What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

    My main character is called John Hendry. He’s a complete figment of my odd and some say, sick mind.

When and where is the story set?

    It is set in London, where I live and where the previous novel in this series began. I sometimes wish it was a little more lively, but I wouldn’t like it to go quite this far.

What should we know about him?

    Hendry is vain and sometimes selfish man who is trying to get over being tricked by the woman he once loved who also tried to murder him. All of which is linked to his rather odd profession, which is the search for and study of supposedly mythical or extinct creatures. Unfortunately he’s found some but the experience isn’t exactly what he was hoping for.

What is the main conflict and what messes up his life?

    He’s been a user for his entire life, and that knowledge of it doesn’t sit well, since he knows, deep down, that if ravenous monsters were not laying waste to London, he probably wouldn’t have changed – and he hates himself for it.

What is the personal goal of the character?

    Primarily to rid London of the awful beasts flying above and devouring the people below. But now he’s found a woman he could finally love. He also wants to repay his lifelong friend whose life he nearly ended in the first book of this series.

Is there a working title for this novel and can we read more about it?

    I’ve pretty much settled for Spawn of Kongomato. This creature is supposedly real but all the other names by which it’s known are pretty tame, so I selected the one variety of it which is considered the most deadly and horrible. Here’s a passage where some carefully laid plans go a tad awry.

‘Approaching the door now.’

    A dull scraping noise was followed by the metallic sound of more heavy debris being shoved aside.

    ‘Opening now.’ Another jarring scrape of wood followed, and juddered Bell’s camera again before the image stabilised and now Hendry could clearly see the tunnel as Bell jerkily made his way towards the final room - to where the bodies all were.

    The rending screech echoing from the other side of the river was not nearly as loud as the agonising feedback from his earpiece, the incredible volume causing him wince and immediately overbalance. With a cry he fell onto his backside, the headphones plug jerked free of the camera as his head connected with something sharp and solid. Tears filled his eyes temporarily leaving him floundering amid the collection of equipment at his feet.

    He struggled, petrified at the enormous scintillating glow preceding another, even louder shriek, hideously amplified and immediately transporting him back to those very recent days when he’d been trapped in that pit from hell. Hendry could barely think. One moment complete silence, the next mayhem. Climbing shakily to his feet and almost gibbering with terror he immediately fell back again as something bright green and huge leapt from the dark opening less than one hundred yards away, its speed and immense size terrifying. Again he shrank back; quivering until seconds later some vestige of sanity commanded him to look up.

    Shrieking furiously into the night sky, the monster he’d thought and preyed was dead, hovered malignantly. Its enormous wings had to be at least thirty feet from tip to tip and glowing that same unearthly green colour, while from a beak at least eight feet long, issued the fearsome screech he knew so well. These were no chicks. They were almost as large as their dead parents had been. How could they have grown so quickly? It was barely two weeks since he’d seen them crawling from their eggs.

I'd like to thank kay and nominate:
Donna Yates.
Joleene Naylor
Shelly@ novicewritings.